Freezing machine



March 12, 1935. W. s. SHAW FREEZING MACHINE lFiled oct. 15, 195o 2 sheets-sheet 1 March l2, 1935. v w, s. SHAW 1,994,233

FREEZING MACHINE Filed Oct. 15, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 java/? Patented Mar.` l2, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1.994,23?. FREEZING MACHINE: William S. Shaw, Boyne City, Mich. Application October 15, 1930, 'Serial No. 488,817

4 Claims.-

The present invention'relates to a machine for quick-freezing; relating particularly to mechanical improvements which enable the quick-freezing of packaged goods of various dimensions in the same machine.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide vfreezi-ng means consisting of a plurality of hollow metallic plates arranged for reciprocal movement relative to each other, Awhereby the articles to be frozen may.. be imprisoned between said plates, which latter are kept by means of brine, or other refrigerating medium, at an extremely low temperature; whereby quick-freezing of the said articles will be eiected.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine comprising a plurality of hollow plates connected with each other for the flow of refrigerating huid therethrough in series, in cooperation with a similar set of plates arranged above the first-mentioned set, the upper set of plates beingV arranged for lifting and lowering, so as to take packages of goods to. be frozen of various sizes.

The present invention is particularly applicable to the freezing of comestibles, such as fish and meat, particularly'when same is arranged in the form of merchantable packages of more or less regular dimensions; that is to say, the goods have been packed with a minimum of air spaces and are substantially of a flat surface capable of contacting with highly chilled metallic heat-conducting plates or the like.

The processes of freezing have commercially been divided into methods of mere chilling, of sharp-freezing and quick-freezing, these terms now being so well understoodin the refrigeratingv art that a discussion thereof in the present patent, which relates to mechanical means for carrying out quick-freezing, would, at the present state of the art, be a superiluity. The machine which I have invented consists of a number of plates which are either hollow or provided with internal tubing for the 'circulation of brine or the like, which plates are rigidly supported in a horizontal position and are connected in multiple or series, so that the brine may circulate therethrough, thereby lowering their temperature to any desired degree. Supported above the first set of plates is a similar set which, however, is provided with means, such as hydraulic rams,l for raising or lowering said upper plates, so that when packages of goods to be frozen are resting on the stationary lower plates the upper* plates may be lowered upon the goods with sufficient pressure to' insure good contact, this contactbeing maintained until the good: have been frozen to the desired degree.

In order to insure proper spacing of the goods and to facilitate loading the individual sets of plates with said goods, itis also within contemplation of my invention to provide the upper or lower plates, or both, with hollow flanges abutting said plates and connected therewith at right angles thereto, this feature, however, not being indispensable to the proper operation of my machine.

My invention also contemplates a method of freezing which comprises compressing comestibles between two highly chilled plates, thus to insure good contact and to enable the goods to be frozen with sufficient rapidity to eventuate quick-freezing thereof.

For a better understanding of my invention, 1 have appended hereto anumber of drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a section-of my machine in only sufficient detail to enable a proper understanding of its principles of operation, said drawing. .not to be taken as a working drawing;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the lowerl set of horizontal plates;

Fig. 3` is an elevational detail view of means for connecting the upper plates, partially in section;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the upper plates showing partially in section the connecting rod of the ram that raises and lowers said plates; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the hydraulic ram employed for lifting and lowering the upper plates.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the machine consists ofv a structural V steel frame 10 which is suitably bolted or riveted together, and

which supports a plurality of hollow plates 11 which are connected to each other in series (or in multiple, if desired) by means of the pipes 12. Suitable arrangements are made for circulating through said hollow plates 11 a refrigerant, such.

as calcium chloride brine or liquid ammonia, which is allowed to expand in the plates, thereby greatly lowering their temperature. The plates arepreferably made of steel or of a non-rusting steel alloy, the plates being of suillcient strength to withstand internal pressure corresponding to evaporating ammonia, ifv that be the refrigerant employed. There is also provided a correspond- 4ing'set of upper plates 13 quite similar in con- -structlonto the lower plates 11, these plates, however, .being connected to each other from their upper surfaces by means of the pipes 14 and 15, the said pipes being interconnected by the re-l turn-bends 16; 'the said bends being supported by means of hangers 17 which are secured to an upper member 10' of the structural steel frame aforesaid. -The plates 13 are also provided, if desired, with downwardly extending flanges 14 which, when the plates 13 and 11 are placed down over the packages 18, will project behind said packages, so as to prevent access of atmospheric air to the sides thereof. 'Ihese hollow anges may extend on four sides of the plates, or only on two sides thereof; andmayl be omitted without departing from the spirit of my invention.

'Ihe upper plates 13 are connected by means of a rod 19 to the hydraulic ram broadly designated by the reference numeral 20 and consisting of the housing 21 and the piston 22, as more completely shown in Fig. 5 already referred to. The device 20 is a standard and well known piece of apparatus, such as is used in hydraulic presses, and comprises customary liquid (oil) inlets 23 and 24, whereby through the intermediation of proper valves (not shown) hydraulic lifting fluid may be placed on either side of the piston 22, thereby moving it in either direction-that is, up or down. By virtue of the connection of the piston with the plate 13 the plate will, of course, partake of the movements of said piston. In order to enable the lifting of the plates 13 to' take place without breaking their connections with the pipes 14'and 15, provision is made for the telescoping of the pipe 15 to the connecting pipe 15' which is screwed into or welded to the upper plates 13. In order to prevent leakage of the refrigerant, standard glands 25 and packing 25 are provided, as shown in Fig. 3, whereby vertical telescoping movement may be effected between the pipes 15 and 15. In other words, when the v.plate 13 is lifted the pipe 15 will telescope into the pipe 15', as is illustrated in Fig. 1 where the central plate 13 is shown in its raised position. It is believed that the operation will be suiiilciently understood from an inspection of the drawings and this description.

I have not illustrated the brine-circulating, ammonia-circulating and hydraulic fluid-circulating devices, as these are all standard and thoroughly well known in their respective arts and form no part of my present invention.

The lower plates are supported on the framework 10, preferably being thoroughly insulated therefrom in order to conserve refrigeratingefiiciency.

As indicated in Figs. 2 and 4 it will be seen that the plates 11 and 13 are provided on their interiors with bailles 11 and 13' to insure a more perfect distribution of the refrigerant Within the said hollow plates.

I also provide about the periphery of the plates, Awith the exception of the upperisurface ofthe lower plate and the lower surface of the upper plate, a suitable thermally-insulating 'lagging which prevents the accumulation of frost on the exposed parts of the plates and insures the more eilicient operation of my machine.

Without limiting my invention in any way I may state that I prefer to make the plates about 24 inches wide, 30 inches long and about 1% to 21A vinches of internal diameter. I also contemplate providing my machine with from 10 to 20 sets ofplates arranged in series, and also contemplate providing a second seriesvof said plates alongside the first series, the entire machine being operated from a suitable aisle or corridor along each longitudinal side of the machine. In operating themachine the operator places either the packaged goods or unpackaged comestibles, which are preferably placed on trays so as to facilitate their handling, upon, say, a lower plate 11, whereupon the upper plate 13 is lowered until it contacts with the goods to be frozen, whereupon, by virtue of the circulation of the refrigerant, freezing takes place with considerable rapidity. While one set of comestibles is being frozen between aset of the upper and lower plates, the next adjacent set may be loaded, and'so on, working from one end of the machine to the other until it is entirely loaded. At the end of this time it willusually be found that the set of plates.

rst loaded has frozen the goods placed therein, so that by lifting the upper plate 13 these goods may be removed and a new set placed therein. Thus continuous operation of the machine can be carried out successfully.

One of the striking advantages of the machine is that goods of various dimensions may b e frozen between the diierent'sets of plates, afeature which has been absent from all previous freezing machines known to me, as, for example, machines in which the goods are placed in cans which are immersed in brine, or in machines operating by the aid of a traveling refrigerated belt, as it is obvious that in such a belt-machine all the goods must needs be of the same dimensions, at least in one direction, as otherwise the larger goods only will make contact with both of the belts.

In my machine, on the contrary, comparatively thick packaged goods may be frozen in one set of plates while a much narrower set of goods may' each plate; that is to say, each of the upper plates has two sets of pipes 15 and two sets of pipes 14 as can best be realized by an inspection of Fig. 4. The lower vplates 11 are also connected with duplicate pipes 12 and 12', as is clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The speed of circulating the brine or ammonia is entirely governed by the rate of freezing de'- sired, and no limitations are to be placed on my invention relative to this point.

-As a matter of convenience, the lower set of stationary plates is placed at such an elevation above the floor level of the room in which the machine is set up so that the plates may conveniently be charged by the operators, who, either by hand or mechanically, place the packed goods to be frozen upon the lower plates. The upper plates may then individually be lowered until they make contact with the packaged goods, sufficient excess pressure being admitted to the upper portion of the cylinder 21 to exert any desired pressure upon the goods, thus insuring close contact thereof with the plates. The flange,A or flanges,

14- is preferably kept slightly shorter than the' insuretheir proper spacing. This also prevents the packages from becoming wedged between the iiange and the lower plate. When the upper plate is then nally lowered into position the ange will reach almost to the lower plate, thus keeping out warm air drafts which mightinterfere with the desired rapidity 'of the freezing.

When the goods have been frozen, the upper plate is lifted high enough for the flanges to entirely clear the packages, which may then be removed with ease. If the packages are of the parafllned paper type there is no difiiculty with the sticking thereof to the plate, but should this occur, they may readily be loosened by a blast of compressed air from a small air hose or the like.

The pipes -14 and 15, when made sufliciently 'large and rigid, will act as guides for the movable plates 13, thus keeping the same in proper horizontal alignment. If desired, however, additional vertical guides may be provided.

While the raising and lowering of the upper plates may be accomplished by manual control of the operating' valves of the hydraulic lifting system, it will also be within the scope of my invention to provide automatic timing mechanisms for eecting said operations at given intervals, thus'rendering the operation of my machine more certain, and preventing underor over-freezing of the goods.

In commercial practice, it will be advisable to lag or insulate the structural steel framework of the machine in o rder to prevent the condensation and freezing of moisture thereon, but all such mechanical details are expedients well known to those skilled in the refrigeration arts, and need not, therefore, be described in detail herein, as a thorough understanding of the patentable features of my invention can be had from the description hereinabove in connection with the drawings.

As already pointed out, the essential features of my invention are found particularly in the cooperation between a set of stationary and a set of vertically movable plates, coupled with means for lifting and lowering said latter plates, and means for adding to the pressure exerted on the goods by the upper plates by hydraulic rams vor their equivalents.

It is also to be considered within the scope of my invention to double-deck the machine,. i. e., to provide two sets of of stationary and of movable plates superimposed, so as to save `floor space.

What I claim'is:

1. A quick-freezing machine comprising, `in combination, a framework, a plurality of stationary horizontally disposed hollow plates mounted rigidly thereon, a plurality of hollow movable horizontally disposed plates positioned above said stationary plates, means for raising and lowering said movable plates, connections between said lower plates for passing refrigerating uid therethrough telescoping connections for permitting' similarv operation with the movable plates, said connection comprising vertically disposed pipes attached to the upper surface of said plates, and vertical pipes telescoping into the latter, said second set of pipes being interconnected by returnbends that are supported on said framework.

2. A quick-freezing machine comprising, in combination, a framework, a set of hollow metallic plates rigidly attached to said framework, pipe connections between said plates allowing of circulation of refrigerant through the same, a set of horizontally positioned hollow plates movable in a reciprocating relationship with said first-mentioned plates, means, comprising hydraulic rams, for raising and lowering said movable plates, vertical .pipes and return-bends connecting said movable plates, and means for permittingA the movement of said movable plates without interrupting their interconnection with each other.

3. -A quick-freezing machine for freezing comestibles that are contained in packages having substantially rectangular form which comprises, in combination, a framework a plurality of stationary hollow metallic plates rigidly attached thereto, pipes connecting said plates for permitting circulation of brine therethrough, a second set of horizontally disposed plates, hydraulic lifting 'means secured to the upper part of said framework, means connecting said lifting means with said second set of plates, there being one lifting means for each of said plates, a plurality of return-bends attached to said frame, vertical pipes connecting said bends with said movable plates, and means for permitting telescoping action between said movable plates and said latter pipes.

4. A quick-freezing machine comprising, in combination, a framework, a set of hollow metallic plates rigidly attached to said framework, pipe connections between said plates allowing of circulation of refrigerant through the same, a set of horizontally positioned hollow plates movablev in a reciprocating relationship 4with said firstmentioned plates, means for raising and lowering said movable plates, vertical pipes and returnbends connecting said movable plates and means for permitting the movement of said movable plates without interrupting their interconnection 

